New 2019 Ram 1500 Runs into Production Snags

Production delays afflicting the all-new 2019 Ram 1500 could mean truck shoppers will be seeing deals on the outgoing 2018 model for some time—maybe even into the 2019 calendar year. That’s the estimated timeframe that Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has pegged for production of the outgoing model to continue, as FCA apparently struggles to build the 2019 Ram 1500 in volume.

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Ram Trucks was advertising $500 in bonus cash in April and $1000 bonus cash in May for select models of the 2018 Ram 1500. That still seems modest, however, when compared with the $2250 bonus cash Ford is offering on its 2018 F-150 (or more for an XL SuperCrew with the 101A package) or the $2000 allowance advertised for certain 2018 Chevrolet Silverado pickups.

Sales of the Ram 1500 have been soft in 2018, even with Americans’ seemingly insatiable desire for big vehicles. Through the first four months of the year, sales of FCA’s top seller were off 12 percent to 143,216 units, including a 9 percent decline in April to 39,252 units. Automotive News has reported that in April FCA was offering U.S. Ram dealerships incentives to sell 1500s into service fleets and count it as sales.

As for production of the new truck, Marchionne told analysts and investors last week that excess costs surrounding the rollout of the 2019 Ram 1500 have probably topped $300 million. “The launches that we have underway, especially the launches of the pickup truck at the new plant up in Sterling Heights [Michigan] has been particularly challenging,” he said in a conference call detailing first-quarter financial results.

FCA announced in July 2016 that it was investing $1.49 billion in its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP)—a facility once slated for closing when Chrysler was facing bankruptcy—in order to shift production of the Ram 1500 there from Warren Truck plant, which is about 10 miles away in metro Detroit and will be retooled to build heavy-duty trucks due in 2020. The Ram 1500 replaces the Chrysler 200 at SHAP; that sedan and its Dodge Dart sibling were discontinued.

It has been an unprecedented production shift for the automaker, Marchionne said. In the earnings call, an analyst asked Marchionne if he has been sleeping on the factory floor, a reference to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who had said he had spent nights near the assembly line in a sleeping bag to oversee the launch of the Model 3 as it continues to work through its own production woes.

“I’m not sleeping on the floor; you need to be Elon’s age to do that. I’m too old for that crap,” Marchionne said, sounding a bit like Roger Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon movies. “I’ve done it, by the way, historically. But I think I’m beyond it now.”

So far, only the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 variant of the 2019 Ram 1500 has hit dealers. Ram spokesman David Elshoff told Car and Driver that a V-8 model with an electric-motor assist (branded eTorque) will be available later this year, followed by the 3.6L V-6 eTorque powertrain. An EcoDiesel variant is expected to arrive in 2019. “All that is a function of the powertrain launch cadence,” Elshoff said.

Meanwhile, Marchionne said FCA has “preserved the ability” to continue selling 2018 models this year. “One of the benefits of having the old truck in the market is it will allow us to play in a portion of the market that is price-sensitive, which we have historically not been able to do,” he said. The least expensive 2018 Ram 1500 costs $28,740, while pricing on the 2019 Ram 1500 starts at $33,340—but the 2019’s only available engine so far is that 5.7-liter V-8, which carries an additional upcharge of $1195.